This Makes Me Sick

Malpractice Suits By the Numbers

"I do not defend the present system at all," said Cliff Rieders, a personal injury lawyer. "I think money is wasted unbelievably." Smart man? A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at 1,452 closed medical malpractice lawsuits and found 37 percent involved no medical error, and an additional 3 percent included no proof of injury. They also noted that the courts usually ruled against the plaintiffs in those cases and they didn't account for a large portion of medical malpractice costs. Read more. [The Patriot-News]

Illinois trumps Canada. And that’s not a good thing.

The numbers speak for themselves. There are approximately 14,000 physicians in Illinois physicians versus 68,000 in Canada. And the lawsuits quoted in Illinois are only for docs with liability insurance from ISMIE Mutual. And of all the legal actions commenced against physicians in Canada, only 125 legal claims went to trial. Seems like those Canucks need some lessons from their brash neighbors to the south.

Source:

Ward Health Strategies

The Medical Litigation Crisis, 2005 Illinois State Medical Society

Canadian Medical Protective Association, Annual Report 2003

The Economist weighs in

We're happy to see the gamut of media outlets giving front page space to the real medical liability crisis. This week the venerable Economist lays it down in  "Doctors and drug firms in the dock." Though we're a little bothered by the tired reference to former trial lawyer and vice-presidential candidate John Edwards as "smooth," the piece is chock full o'Economist-worthy facts and figures and they give support to the innovative solution of health courts being pushed by Common Good. Here's a sampling of the numbers:

• 76% of American obstetricians have been sued at least once



• $228,396 ~ The average malpractice insurance premium paid by neurosurgeons in St. Clair County, Illinois in 2004. That's five times more than their colleagues in Wisconsin.



• From 1975--2003 the cost of medical malpractice lawsuits has risen more than 2,000% to $26.5 billion, according to Tillinghast, an actuarial consultancy.

After the knockout figures, they breakdown the tangled financial mess this creates--from a family's soaring health care costs to General Motors' own financial woes. Read [The Economist]